Why the whole Unsent sub-plot isn't as dumb as most people think. [HUGE SPOILERS]

[aaaaargwarbl]

Over the years, many people have reacted generally negatively to the concept of the dead just coming back to life seemingly without any negative side-effects. Truth be told, I think the hate it gets is unjustified. It's not that the Unsent are a bad idea, it's just that it was just presented poorly.

First of all, the idea of the dead coming back to life in corporeal manifestations that fully interact with the mortal realm is one that is as old as time, and many timeless works of fiction have based themselves on exploring the idea of undeath, from Bram Stoker's Dracula to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. However, one thing that those two works have going for them is that the undead are portrayed as being repulsive in some way. Dracula is consumed by a horrific appetite for the blood of the living, and the zombies of NotLD are a mindless and shambling horde. Meanwhile, the Unsent of FFX show no such repulsive traits, and the benefits of being an Unsent take center stage. This leads a lot of players to wonder just why death is such a big deal in Spira.

Well, it actually is a big deal.

First of all, very few characters of FFX are actually able to return as Unsent, and still fewer are able to hold on to their humanity. I assume a lot of people don't have too much of a problem with the Unsent that lose their minds, since that falls in line with the whole "repulsive attributes" thing I mentioned earlier. Rather, it's characters like Seymour, Lady Yunalesca, and especially party member Auron who pull off being Unsent so well that it makes players wonder just what the downsides are. (In the case of Lady Yunalesca, she can hide her repulsive aspects at will, and reveals them only when she needs the power boost.)

The thing that a lot of people don't grasp is that, to be a rational Unsent, it clearly requires a great deal of Determination. (Yes, I will be borrowing this term from a certain breakout indie game; it works very well in this context.) Determination is that part of the human psyche that allows a person to defy death -- if not death of the body, then certainly death of the mind. Almost every person in Spira possesses some amount of Determination, but only a select few have what it takes to come back hardly the worse for wear.

Determination is a function of the will to continue living. But while a strong spirit is one necessary part of it, Determination also requires a motive, a reason to want to keep going. These motives can range from simple envy of the living, to unresolved affairs that need to be seen through, to strong feelings of responsibility toward the state of the mortal realm. Most people lack either the spirit or the motive, which means they don't have the Determination they need to come back as they were. Most people either pass on peacefully, or become fiends. A smaller amount have an unusually high amount of Determination, but not quite enough to retain their sanity, and so instead become revenants, just barely managing to maintain their human form but little else.

Most people think that Seymour's plan to kill everything would just be a minor setback, that society would just move on to the next plane of existence and work from there. But it wouldn't; only the people with the Determination to continue existing as they were would retain their current forms. Everyone else would become mindless soul energy, unable to ever reform into anything sentient. In real life, death is called "the great equalizer". In Spira, it's more like "the great inequalizer". (Or if you like, "all dead people are equal, but some are more equal than others.") As much disparity as there is in world of the living, we can be sure that Seymour's plan would just make the playing field still more uneven; those with the Determination to continue being themselves prevail, while those without are denied the chance to ever become more than pyreflies. It's like the worst aspects of capitalism, communism, and caste systems all rolled into one.

Okay, so we've established that while death in Spira is a little more negotiable than in the real world, it's still an insurmountable obstacle for most people, and total annihilation would be a bum deal for the general population (imagine that!). But for the few people who DO have the Determination to be top dogs, what's not to like? Not only do you get to come back as yourself, you also get to be super-powerful and nearly immortal. It's awesome, right?

Not right. Y'see, when you become an Unsent, you may not look it, but you ARE permanently dead. You may be able to coalesce into a physical form that passes for mortal, but you will never be mortal again. And once you're dead, there's no way to go back to being a creature of flesh and blood. Now some of you may say that it doesn't sound so bad. Maybe you're aware of the implications that you can no longer eat, drink, have sex, or otherwise partake in the pleasures of the flesh. Maybe you believe that, by removing your physical desires, you can remove the distractions that held you back in life.

But there's a reason why I've been putting such a large emphasis on Determination throughout this essay. It's because you don't just need Determination to become a rational Unsent, you need to have Determination to continue being a rational Unsent. You need to continue having a strong spirit, and a reason to keep on existing, or else you fade away for good. Look at Grand Maester Mika, for instance. His Determination was rooted in his motive to keep the faith in Spira, so that they would continue churning out summoners and keep the mortal realm intact. He felt such a strong obligation to protect the morals of the mortal realm that he wanted to protect it even after death. But once Tidus and co. come to deliver the bad news, Mika falls into despair. His spirit is broken, and in that moment, he loses his Determination, and loses his form, finally passing into the final state of death -- mindless energy.

And that's the leg up that mortals have over the Unsent; mortal beings don't need to have Determination to continue existing. We can fall into anguish and despair, and it can be painful to live sometimes, but no matter how far we sink, as long as we're alive, we can pick ourselves back up and continue to be ourselves. This is a luxury that the Unsent do not have; if ever they lose their Determination, whether that be through their strength of spirit or their motivations, they will fade away to pyreflies. And so the Unsent live in a constant state of unrelenting anxiety, because if ever their hold on the mortal realm should waver, they will cease to exist.

Only a psychopath like Seymour can reject reality while still maintaining their Unsent form. But even he has to fear the Sending, a ritual dance that can apparently override your Determination, regardless of how well you've cultivated your willpower and fortitude. I can only speculate how the ritual actually works, but there's no denying that every Unsent must be living in a state of constant anxiety, always knowing that a summoner can just walk up to them, twirl around a staff, and just banish them to the aether.

Now we mere mortals have our own sources of anxiety that we can't ever escape in our waking lives, but thankfully we have sleep as a temporary escape from the pressures of the real world. We can lose ourselves in the fantasy dreamscapes of our minds, free of worries or cares. After all, when we let go of our earthly attachments and drift off to sleep, we'll still wake up in the morning and return to our lives. As I said before, we mortals don't need Determination to keep on living. But as for the Unsent...

Well, let me put it this way: Have you ever seen an Unsent sleep?

[Silamon]

Personally I always thought it clear that being Unsent was NOT a good thing, especially over a period of time.
Just look at what happened to Seymour. Sure he seemed fairly normal at first, but look at what he turned into! He went mad and started trying to kill everything, while taking more and more inhuman forms.

Pretty sure some of the characters mention that the Unsent eventually lose their mi nds and become fiends, which is exactly what happened to Seymour...

[Uimet]

Hmm either they become insane over time or just risk the chance of been sended by a random summoner

[The Combat Medic]

I don't recall anyone complaining about the concept of unsent being stupid.

Originally posted by Silamon:

Personally I always thought it clear that being Unsent was NOT a good thing, especially over a period of time.
Just look at what happened to Seymour. Sure he seemed fairly normal at first, but look at what he turned into! He went mad and started trying to kill everything, while taking more and more inhuman forms.

Pretty sure some of the characters mention that the Unsent eventually lose their mi nds and become fiends, which is exactly what happened to Seymour...

Not everyone who is an unsent goes insane. ]Yunalesca, Mika, and Machen are unsent but they act normal. (Well, the first one goes nuts when the party provokes them). Seymour was already broken while he was alive, he just did a good job hiding it and his backstory explains why he went nuts.

[Silamon]

Originally posted by The Combat Medic:

I don't recall anyone complaining about the concept of unsent being stupid.

Originally posted by Silamon:

Personally I always thought it clear that being Unsent was NOT a good thing, especially over a period of time.
Just look at what happened to Seymour. Sure he seemed fairly normal at first, but look at what he turned into! He went mad and started trying to kill everything, while taking more and more inhuman forms.

Pretty sure some of the characters mention that the Unsent eventually lose their mi nds and become fiends, which is exactly what happened to Seymour...

Not everyone who is an unsent goes insane. ]Yunalesca, Mika, and Machen are unsent but they act normal. (Well, the first one goes nuts when the party provokes them). Seymour was already broken while he was alive, he just did a good job hiding it and his backstory explains why he went nuts.

Did you SEE Yunalesca's third phase? That screams fiend to me.... She may have seemed fairly coherent but as soon as the group asks about a way to beat sin without the final aeon, she attacks the group. Mika gives up and fades away when he finds out that Yunalesca was defeated, he probably had a fiend form as well though.
Machen... i dont actually remember a Machen

Edit: oh thats the old guy that talks and talks, I barely consider him to be a character so much as an infinite Exposition device....

[Uimet]

Originally posted by Silamon:

Originally posted by The Combat Medic:

I don't recall anyone complaining about the concept of unsent being stupid.



Not everyone who is an unsent goes insane. ]Yunalesca, Mika, and Machen are unsent but they act normal. (Well, the first one goes nuts when the party provokes them). Seymour was already broken while he was alive, he just did a good job hiding it and his backstory explains why he went nuts.

Did you SEE Yunalesca's third phase? That screams fiend to me.... She may have seemed fairly coherent but as soon as the group asks about a way to beat sin without the final aeon, she attacks the group. Mika gives up and fades away when he finds out that Yunalesca was defeated, he probably had a fiend form as well though.
Machen... i dont actually remember a Machen

Agree yunalascca probably just a former shell of herself what left of her is memories and field in a shell ready to explode any given time to hide the truth from getting out of hand for people who do not accept the truth

[Cccactus]

I think the concept is ok, it just feels kind of random who becomes an unsent, and what abilties they gain.

[The Combat Medic]

When I listed Yunalesca, I meant how, over the past 1000 years, was pretty much "normal" in the sense of doing what she always done (sans attacking Auron) instead of going insane like Seymour did since she believed her way was the right way and since everyone else went with it, there was no reason for her to go sour until Auron attacked her and then 10 years later, Yuna herself.

[Uimet]

Originally posted by The Combat Medic:

When I listed Yunalesca, I meant how, over the past 1000 years, was pretty much "normal" in the sense of doing what she always done (sans attacking Auron) instead of going insane like Seymour did since she believed her way was the right way and since everyone else went with it, there was no reason for her to go sour until Auron attacked her and then 10 years later, Yuna herself.

She attack first thought we just self defend :3 and I agree on auron he deserves what he gets lol

[aaaaargwarbl]

Originally posted by The Combat Medic:

I don't recall anyone complaining about the concept of unsent being stupid.

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in anyone's mouth. But that was the impression that I got, that people who play FFX say that death is too cheap in the world of Spira.

[The Combat Medic]

Originally posted by aaaaargwarbl:

Originally posted by The Combat Medic:

I don't recall anyone complaining about the concept of unsent being stupid.

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in anyone's mouth. But that was the impression that I got, that people who play FFX say that death is too cheap in the world of Spira.

Really? Only complaints I know about are the "laughing scene" and the voice acting. Death is part of the central theme, so of course it's gonna be everywhere. Death is cheap if people die and are brought back like nothing happened.

[Ghin]

About the Sending, you can't just walk up to anyone and send them, it takes a while as the events in Macarena Temple show. At most it would reveal who the fiends are when they attack the summoner to prevent their certain death.

[ShinkuTear]

Originally posted by Silamon:

Mika gives up and fades away when he finds out that Yunalesca was defeated, he probably had a fiend form as well though.

Actually, he did.

In FFX-2, there is a bonus dungeon, Via Infinito. Within it, several Unsent characters attack you, and most turn into Fiends first. Jyscal, Mika, Yunalesca, Zaon... and I think a few others. Fittingly, Yunalesca as a Fiend uses the same general tactic as her FFX form, Instant Kills, by way of Resist Piercing Petrify -> Shatter tactics.

[Shiny]

I think it has a lot to do with a person's will and demeanor while living which determines what they are like unsent. Over time we know that a person unsent will become a fiend. A particularly strong person whether good or evil could resist this more, even be able to harness more pyreflies. Some unsent become more "fiendish" or "animalistic" if you will. They lose a bit of their humanity, as they are usually considered psychotic at that point.

As is the case with Seymour and Yunalesca. And then there is Lulu's old summoner she was a guardian to who still had human form but acted basically as a fiend and you could tell she barely had any humanity or personality left. Auron is a particularly strong unsent, and is bound by his promise to Jecht to protect Tidus, and also to help Yuna get to the end of her Pilgrimage to kill Jecht. It's also hinted at that unsent/the pyreflies can change appearance, as Auron is an old man, and he died young.

[ynot563]

If i was an unsent, I would come back as a dingo because my determination is lacking.

[rodrigo_vda]

Originally posted by Shiny:

It's also hinted at that unsent/the pyreflies can change appearance, as Auron is an old man, and he died young.

I think that actually that is because unsents can grow old too, but yeah, Yunalesca still looks young while Mica (but he could have looked like this when he died) and Auron look older